It's
perfectly natural to want to cringe at the mere thought of a Night
of the Living Dead remake — one shot in full color no less — but
hear me out: Tom Savini's 1990 version of Night of the Living Dead does a
respectable job of reworking George Romero's 1968 classic to a fit
more modern archetype. Well-known for his make-up effects (on
films such as Friday the 13thand Romero's own Dawn
of the Dead), Savini
understandably leans toward a more visceral revision to the already
ghastly classic.(read more...)

The following is for the League of Tana Tea Drinkers' roundtable discussion of "What Do Cute Versions of Monsters Tell Us About Horror?" I realize that I didn't address the question directly, but I think my piece fits into the larger discussion.

I've never been a spiritual person. The
most pressing conflict of faith I had growing up was whether I would
become an agnostic like my father or an atheist like my mother (I
still bounce back and forth to this day). I suppose we all need
something to believe in, however, especially as children. I believed
in horror. It was, in many ways, my faith - adored without
question, every movie I could get my hands on committed to memory and
recited ad nauseam. Frankenstein, Dracula, the Wolf Man, and an
exquisitely tortured Vincent Price were all major deities. It was a
simple pleasure in a complex time - my parents were getting
divorced and I was being moved (as opposed to moving, which suggests
I had some choice in the matter) to another state. In hindsight,
horror was something I very much needed to survive - the heightened
acting, the fantastic settings both foreboding and unreal, the
monsters who brought thrills and chills to supplant the uncertainty
that was actually much, much scarier.
(read more...)

During
the early 1970s, the three major television networks (ABC, CBS, and NBC)
provided their viewing audiences with an abundance of well-made, low-budget fright flicks as a response to the then burgeoning drive-in
market. One of the most well-remembered shows to air during this
time was the ABC Movie of the Week. The series ran for a respectable
six years (1969-1975), producing several key genre entries. John
Newland's Don't
Be Afraid of The Dark stood
at the forefront of this small screen movement. Newland's film left
an indelible mark on the terrified viewing audience that caught it on
October 10, 1973. Now, almost forty years later, it still stands up as the kind
of film that will make you want to sleep with your light on. (read more...)

If
imitation is indeed the sincerest form of flattery, Wes Craven is presumably meant to take the chutzpah of Mahakaal as a compliment. A
jaw-droppingly blatant rip-off of one of Craven's most famous films,
A Nightmare on Elm Street, it is also a frustrating piece of work.
Despite being, at times, genuinely creepy, and adding a few inventive
touches of it's own, it ultimately fails, because the story changes
leave it thematically weaker, and the directors are unwilling or
unable to transcend the limitations and demands of the "Bollywood"
commercial film-making formula(read more...)

One of the best parts (there are many) from the Spanish flick Horror Rises from the Tomb (1973) is an early scene in which the protagonists, all of whom are bored rich people, attend a séance. They want to get in touch with their ancestors; it's not like they have anything better to do with their time. They succeed. Unfortunately for them, the film already opened with a prologue set in the Middle Ages in which a certain nobleman and his mistress are executed for practicing witchcraft. Naturally, it is these two individuals who manifest themselves at the séance, and naturally, this inspires the one guy to take everyone up to the old ancestral castle to start digging for things in the crypts. It doesn't turn out well.(read more...)

Ealing
Studios' 1945 production of Dead
of Night is a landmark film
on two different levels. Its overall high quality, mind-bending
wraparound story, and one legendary sequence solidify Dead
of Night's reputation as
one of the greatest examples of the horror anthology. Of equal
significance, the film provides links to the future by introducing
elements that foreshadow genre movies made many years later.(read more...)

One of the great things about horror
films is the constant evolution of the genre; just when you think
you've seen every possible take on a premise, somebody will come
along with a new twist on an old favorite. The bare bones of the plot
of House (a group of teenage girls, trapped in a creepy old
mansion, being murdered one by one) may sound very familiar. However,
in the hands of a first-time director with a background in both art
and advertising, it becomes a chaotic and experimental piece of work
that, aside from being baffling, bloody, and disturbing, is a great
example of the theory of Pure Cinema.
(read more...)

Everyone has something they were terrified of as a child. Sometimes it was
the shadows lurking in the closet, sometimes it was the malevolent clown doll
perched on the highest shelf, and sometimes it was that creepy house across the
street. But what happens when those imagined dangers, often considered the
folly of childhood, become a very dangerous reality? The answer, of course, is Monster
House, the directorial debut of Gil Kenan (City of Amber). An innocent and yet surprisingly mature film, Monster
House explores both the mystery of the neighborhood's haunted house and
the complexity of adolescence with minimal belittlement. Offering a fresh take
on an old idea, Monster House approaches its youthful themes with
maturity, dignity and a healthy dose of good ol' supernatural fright, making it
nothing less than a top-notch children's horror film.(read more...)

It has become almost mandatory in any
movie involving zombies or zombie-like creatures... the scene in
which one of the protagonists confronts a friend or family member who
isn't quite the same anymore. Can he perform his duty to
civilization by pulling the trigger, or will he end up like them? Is
it right to kill a loved one who has become one of the undead
(or an alien pod-person, or a plague-infected mutant, or whatever)?
(read more...)

At
some point in its history, Hollywood decided that more eye-popping
effects, blood, violence, and nudity were needed to bring more
viewers to theaters and put more money into industry coffers.
Unfortunately, this often led to a lazy, less-nuanced approach to
filmmaking. Fans of the haunted house chiller, in particular, saw
first-hand how the new, in-your-face angle negatively impacted their
favorite horror sub-genre. Where you now see the ghosts and
supernatural forces through optical and computer trickery, the ghost
stories of filmdom's golden age relied on simple sound, lighting, and
wind machine effects to get the viewer's already active imagination
to scare the pants off them. One of these subtle gems of yesteryear
is 1944's The Uninvited, a sumptuous-looking, superbly
directed and acted hair-raiser of the highest caliber.(read more...)